Headlines

Amy Harder

The U.S. has much, much more oil and gas than thought

The formations, called Bakken and Three Forks, span much of western North Dakota, the northern tip of South Dakota and the northeastern tip of Montana. The last time the United States Geological Survey assessed this area for its oil and gas reserves was in 2008. But that assessment did not include the Three Forks formation, which explains the substantial increase in the estimates. USGS estimates that these two formations together hold 7.4 billion barrels of undiscovered—but technically recoverable—oil and 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The estimates were requested by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., in early 2011. “This is clearly great news for North Dakota and great news for the nation,” Hoeven said in a statement. “It will further serve to enhance our state’s role as an energy powerhouse for the nation.”

The energy boom’s impact on North Dakota’s economy is undeniable. The state has the lowest unemployment in the country, at 3.3 percent. …

Nonetheless, the data add more hard evidence of America’s energy boom, which was largely unimaginable just seven years ago. The estimates also underline the opportunities, including economic benefits and energy security, and the challenges, especially President Obama’s commitment to tackle climate change, that come with a major fossil-fuel boom.

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But seriously, if the government released all known oil reserves on US soil and in US waters for drilling, we could be completely energy independent in two years and not have to import a single barrel of oil for the foreseeable future.

Well then we better work a little harder and putting it all off limits in new National Parks, then!

catmman on May 1, 2013 at 8:13 PM

Well do like I do, I take the bus, I don’t use oil…my friends have electric cars, again no oil….

IF you people cared about Gaia, rather than your artificially enriched (on the backs of the Third World Poor, Womnyn, Gays, Lesbians, and People of Colour, here and abroad)Consumerist Mega-Technic Lifestyle, we wouldn’t even have to use the government, but as you insist on driving your giant gas-guzzling SUV’s to and from your suburban sprawl deserts, transporting your Gaia-destroying, little petite bourgeois Hell-spawn to their hopelessly mundane and jejune past times…well we must do what we must!

I say this only with Love for you Rethuglikkk@n Bitter Clingers. I pray for your reeducation daily….

The Left thought high prices would force the US to cling to alternative energy. Instead, we just went looking for more to make up for the deficit. We are finding and producing more oil despite Obama and his admin.

IF you people cared about Gaia, rather than your artificially enriched (on the backs of the Third World Poor, Womnyn, Gays, Lesbians, and People of Colour, here and abroad)Consumerist Mega-Technic Lifestyle, we wouldn’t even have to use the government, but as you insist on driving your giant gas-guzzling SUV’s to and from your suburban sprawl deserts, transporting your Gaia-destroying, little petite bourgeois Hell-spawn to their hopelessly mundane and jejune past times…well we must do what we must!

We utilize 5.5 billion barrels of oil a year in this nation. While I applaud the gains, they are microscopic and blown way out of proportion in these articles. We import 2 billion barrels a year. We have a trillion or two, three orders of magnitude more oil in the Utah shale areas. Now that is where you are talking about game changing numbers. I think people have no comprehension of the numbers being thrown out there and think, WOW BILLIONS! that is a huge amount… Not for these items. A billion barrels of oil is like a billion dollars of federal spending…

Hush now. We are not allowed to discuss the price of gasoline under a democratic president.

slickwillie2001 on May 1, 2013 at 11:03 PM

Oil is bought and sold on the global markets, and is driven at the margins, the last few barrels sold determine the price.

That said, gas prices will remain higher than before, even if oil prices drop to $15 a barrel again because we do not burn oil, we burn refined oil and we have not allowed a single new refinery to be created in this nation for decades, and the small refinery gains we get from refitting the ones we have are not keeping up with the rate of fuel usage.

Of course, if oil prices drop to $15 a barrel, almost all the new finds of being recoverable become reduced by about 90%, because they are recoverable at a certain price point, some at $10 and some at $300 a barrel.